Leslie Morse’s Grand Prix dressage stallion Tip Top 962 underwent colic surgery after suffering an acute attack at the Dressage Affaire CDI in Del Mar, Calif.

“He was standing in his stall at the horse show eating hay, and within seconds he threw himself down rolling. Thank God we were right there watching it,” said Morse.

Dr. Rodrigo Vazquez, of Equine Surgical Services in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., operated on the 16-year-old Swedish Warmblood (Master—Hortensia). He found a pedunculated lipoma strangulation—a lump of fat that had wrapped around 20 feet of distal jejunum and part of the ileum. Basically, Tip Top had a lump of fat that had been there for years, and that fat ball strangled his bowel.

“We were very lucky that we were so close to a clinic. Dr. Rodrigo Vazquez has given Tip Top the best chances for a complete recovery,” said Morse. “It was a very frightening experience. To see Tip Top in such horrible pain was heart-breaking. Now he is comfortable, and we just have to wait and see. Every hour counts for the next five days. Tip Top is so strong; I know he will pull though this, and I will do everything that is possible to have this happen.”

Morse, of Beverly Hills, Calif., and Tip Top represented the United States at the 2006 and 2007 FEI World Cup Finals and the FEI World Equestrian Games in 2006. Most recently, the pair won the Collecting Gaits Farm/USEF National Grand Prix Championship in 2009 and the Grand Prix Special at the Exquis World Dressage Masters in Wellington, Fla., in February.